上伊那ぼたん、酔へる姿は百合の花

Oh no... we are off to a very moody start. Botan's idea of what a bar is like is pretty funny and cute. Man, this whole scene in the bar from when the other people entered actually made me tear up a bit. Also, I really like the direction of having Botan be illuminated by the light while Ibuki in the dark the entire scene. Senpai finally had enough... Botan run! She doesn't have much screentime, but Akane was pretty cute this episode. This whole scene, man... It's so good, but I also feel so bad for Gujo senpai... She is not ready to drink with her, but this was at least nice gesture... Them cutting from Gujo senpai (presumably) crying to the ending that shows Gujo and Ibuki's relationship from meeting her until now is so evil, it actually made me tear up again... Also, her just losing colors once Botan showed up, is just... I'm telling you, you can NEVER skip endings in this show.

That salty dog was clearly not salty enough, Ibuki had to add her own tears into it. But damn does her hiccup trauma run deep. And another bonding moment between Botan and Gujou. Though they are love rivals, they have been so kind to each other. It's tough to watch knowing that Gujou will lose, even though Botan is trying her best to ~~push for the poly route~~ get Gujou and Ibuki to drink together. The roadtrip between Ibuki and Gujou. Wow the visuals and cinematography were spectacular, but this is the final nail in the coffin for the Ibuki and Gujou ship. The whole scene is almost framed as a final farewell; the indirect cigarette kiss, the white and blue butterflies separating, and the last teardrop. And to rub salt to the wound this week's ED was about freshman Ibuki and Gujou becoming friends. But hey, new girl next week, keep your head up Gujou. **Edit: Flower language stuff.** Purple, white and orange flowers. Not sure on the id of the purple and white flowers, but they both seem to be the same species, just different colors to represent Gujou and Ibuki (their butterflies follow the same color coding too). Most likely candidate seems to be the Japanese Bellflower (Platycodon), which comes in both purple and white, and carries the meaning of endless love, honesty and the desire for the return of a friend. Alternatively, if the white flower was a different species, it might be an Evening Primrose (Oenothera). It only blooms at night , so it carries the meaning of silent unrequited love (I guess this is related to the girl in Ibuki's flashback?). But it also can mean fickleness/changeable love since the flowers start off white but gradually change to pink (her growing relationship with Botan). Orange flowers are marigolds (Tagetes), representing Botan. Marigolds in general seem to be associated with negative emotions jealousy and sadness, but orange marigolds can also specifically mean sincerity. Orange day-lilies. Japanese name of the orange day-lily (Hemerocallis fulva) is (忘れ草), literally meaning forget(忘れ) and grass (草), so this plant specifically carries the meaning for forgetting one's sorrows, a symbolism that got carried over when the plant was brought from China to Japan. So I guess the butterflies drinking from the flower are like Ibuki and Gujou drinking their sorrows away lol? They are also called day-lilies because they bloom for a day so there is that meaning of fleetingness and moving on too.

Just wow oh wow. Most visually appealing anime episode in all of the spring lineup so far, I hope we get to see more out of this type of animation when we see more Botan x Ibuki crumbs. GGs to the Gujo x Ibuki shippers though, that might've been the end of it. I always thought that Gujo's interest in Ibuki was of pure romantic intent only, but looking back on ep 4 and the sneak into Ibuki's past during her drink in the bar with Botan, I feel like another reason why Gujo is so desperate to be able to drink with Ibuki again is her knowledge about Ibuki's troubled past when it comes to drinking (watch the end credits here and you'll see still drawings of ibuki and gujo's first interactions while drinking all the way to them being the first occupants of the dorm). She wants to be the person to open up her walls again and drink with others despite her hiccups (which Botan already kinda did). In the end, with the most beautiful scenery I've seen from this series yet, we see a rather complex interaction between them. Others see it as Ibuki's rejection of Gujo, but I see it as Ibuki's way of processing her feelings. The way she couldn't answer straight up the three separate questions of Gujo about Botan already implies that Botan is special to her. And the line in the end where she gets a puff of smoke from Gujo's cigarette asking "am I doing this right?" I think that's Ibuki indirectly asking if she's approaching things right with Botan and Gujo, especially since Botan is a newcomer to the dorm, she's wondering why Botan is the special one to her and not Gujo who has been by her side since (presumably) the beginning of her college life? All in all, imo one of the top 3 romance anime this spring cuz of how subtle the details and meanings behind each character's actions are which is uncommon with your usual romance nowadays, or ig im just really a sucker for SoLs. Looking forward to more peak next Friday!

A little off topic but I just want to say that I truly admire the team at Soigne has done so far, it's truly immersive and endearing to watch. Both mono (Soigne's first show and from creator of Yuru Camp) and now Botan are my top shows of all time. mono inspired me to visit some parts of Nagano last year, this time Botan really makes me want to visit Chichibu and Mitsumine Shrine next year! Almost skipped Botan due to watching so many shows this season, glad I picked it up while it started airing last month after seeing some amazing things said about it! Soigne I kneel and will watch anything you make from now on 😉

I feel so bad for Ibuki. She finally opened up a bit why she's so unwilling to drink around people. It is about what one would expect, but seeing how deeply it stung her hurts. Alcohol is something dear to her, and yet to enjoy it she feels like she must become a recluse, or did before Kamiina came into her life. I hope part of this show is her finding more people she can trust enough to let see herself be drunkenly hiccupping and vulnerable. Gujo deserves to be one of them but after the way this episode ended I dunno that it can happen now.

It's strawberry season and I'm trying to eat all the strawberries I can, but the ones I got today were moldy. 😢 I just wanted to complain for a sec. Maybe I was too busy thinking about that to realize, until Gujo was offering the strawberry whisky to Ibuki, that when you cut the strawberries that way they look like little hearts. They really packed a lot of symbolism into this episode, huh? With the addition of the ED animation, I'm coming around to the idea that Gujo basically spent this episode preparing for the end of her pursuit of Ibuki. Like Ibuki's favorite whisky infused with little hearts was her last, best attempt at getting Ibuki to let her in. And that she got Botan involved with making it, as a sort of peace offering, because she knew she's probably the losing heroine. She asks Ibuki questions, but she already knows what the answers are. That ending hit me too hard, I guess. I can really relate to being in that situation and seeking closure how she did, but nothing I ever did was as beautiful or poetic as going to those fields of flowers.

That last scene was such a surprise, Ibuki still can't drink in front of Gujou but she was definitely closing the distance with that cigarette. That was her first smoke too, I thought Gujou was going to be blushing lol. I really hope for Gujou's sake, they'll eventually drink together, they've known each other for so long too.  What I like about Gujou as well is that she interacts well with Kamiina, I'm sure she's envious of her relationship with Ibuki, but it doesn't stop her from keeping that separate.  Too bad we didn't get to see Gujou in the hot springs though.  Bartender was sweet, I found it cute when he got happy about Kamiina's being taken by the look of the drink.

Kanade finally got a road trip alone with Ibuki. She's adorable when she got jealous of Botan. Unfortunately, she couldn't have a drink as she's also on driving duty. What a shame, after Akane & Botan had helped with the strawberry whisky. The indirect kiss with the cigarette's a decent consolation, though. I didn't expect Ibuki to suggestively pull it out of Kanade's mouth before putting it in hers. What a stunning landscape – and the scene with the flying leaves was pure cinema. A new resident? This is bound to be exciting. How'd she react to the drunken gay shenanigans she'd be exposed to on a daily basis?

It's really neat how they remind us from time to time they are all engineering students. Like it's such a small detail but it's also probably not what you would expect when guessing what they are studying (If anything usually these type of shows don't specify what they are learning since it barely comes up anyway). At least the amount of drinking they are doing makes more sense in that context. Also I may be wrong but I think that was the first male character we've seen in the show. Up until now it wasn't 100% certain this isn't a full yuri alternate universe.

This show is fucking insane bro, oh my God. It's so good. The lingering melancholy especially surrounding Gujo-senpai. This week's ending visuals is diabolical. Then there was also the bar scene with Ibuki. I didn't expect something as simple as excessive hiccups when drinking could make me almost tear up, but it did. Honestly wasn't expecting to get this much depth when I first started this show. I thought it would just be some chill cute girls doing drinking together kind of show, which I would have also thoroughly enjoy, but what we're getting both that and much more, it's amazing. The directing, the visuals, the animation, everything about it is awesome. The EDs alone telling so much story.

truly elated to see ep 4 and 5 feel distinct in direction while also not sacrificing a relatively similar looking style of drawing, this episode had very very noticable direction (lots of split down the middle framing and lighting etc) but also kept the look of past episodes and still distinguished itself which was so nice, really love this series except for episode 3 and hope it continues on the trend that 1, 2 4 and 5 have set in the future.

Such an amazing show, the change in directorial style each episode really shone this time. When they decided to reference The Infamous Evangelion Ep.24 When Ibuki Meets Kamiina ahead of the bar scene i had to pause and collect myself. Such a bold and beautifully executed homage (especially with how the final shot of both this episode and NGE24 are mirrored to show a love dying, savage and gorgeous work.)

Holy shitt what did I just watch Dang poor ibuki no wonder she so self conscious and I’m guess said person was pretty important to her to Though the whole half episode of ibuki and gujo I think was needed for both of them. Gujo biggest problem was the fact that she was both trying to hard but also not trying hard enough. Whether she was scared of rejection or was trying so hard to impress ibuki It couldn’t really get her pass ibuki wall cause at the end of the day what she needed was to be more honest about she feel. And not worry so much about what the end result will be good or bad. And this was a good representation of that since while there where quite intentional with the distances Even more so with creating more distance with gujo question For the first time ibuki is actually looking and thinking about gujo. And what the relationship is. Now her attempts ultimately did push ibuki away from her but it was kinda needed for her to just be more upfront and show ibuki the distance she was putting between the 2 before Ibuki kinda needed this experiences to. At the end of the day her drinking habits are just her preference there’s nothing wrong with and nobody should judge for it. But ibuki was kinda using as both a crutch for herself and wall to keep others out. And distance Like she had someone right next to her before botan who really wanted to bonded with her. I’m not trying to say it all ibuki fault or what not. Or that she a horrible person. And this is a bit of a over exaggeration since ultimately it just her drinking habits and As I said gujo was kinda putting her up on a pedestal and trying to be to round about and should have just been more upfront about it But ibuki was alway putting a wall for her But it’s more so a matter of trust and honesty where botan got to come and go as she please Which is kinda crappy if you ask me. Always rejecting her and putting distance without ever explaining why And consider both the ending and what we learn last episode I think gujo probably already knows about the hiccups

It was kind of cute how Gujou called a tin can a “kan kan.” The detail of her keeping the air conditioner remote inside the tin can really gave it a down-to-earth feel, and it made me laugh. Making umeshu with crystal rock sugar and shochu (or, if unavailable, vodka or Everclear) is a classic early summer tradition in Japan, so it seems only natural that Botan would have mistakenly thought she was making umeshu when she saw the crystal rock sugar and the bottle. It’s a shame that Gujou made a drink with Glenlivet and strawberries just for Ibuki, but she can’t drink it because she’s too shy to drink in front of others.

I think there's a few levels of misunderstanding going on, here. The first misunderstanding is this: > Based on the title, this show is SUPPOSED to be about how Botan really lets loose when drunk This is an issue with how the title of the show is translated, and there isn't much of a way to really fix it. The original Japanese title uses the symbolism of lilies to establish firmly that this is a GL anime. The author has stated, explicitly, that this is a GL series. In other words, the title is suggestive that Kamiina Botan is getting into girls' love while drunk. This has been true of every single episode thus far; the love triangle is simply a means of adding excitement to what would otherwise be straightforward GL. To be clear, I actually really hate love triangles in romance stories, so I'm not even saying this as a defense. It's just what I think is observably true. The second misunderstanding is this: > and that whole relationship revolves around Botan knowing WHY Ibuki doesn't drink with anyone, with Koujo out of the loop on it but knows that the two have a special relationship and [I believe] knows that Botan and Ibuki have been drinking together. This I believe is a misinterpretation of the nature of Gujo and Ibuki's relationship and what the point of the love triangle is. The ED cinematic for this episode reveals that Ibuki and Gujo have actually drunk together; she *should* be aware of her habit. This is especially since there are conversations earlier in the show that suggest that the students at the dorm know that Ibuki is clearly embarrassed about drinking with others, and even if they don't know exactly why, they at the very least know that it's due to some habit of hers. This love triangle isn't really defined by an information gap between each party, but rather it's defined by the establishment of boundaries. Ibuki isn't strictly opposed to the idea of her habit being known, as she'll do it in front of bartenders or service staff. She's opposed to the idea of being mocked for it. The hiccuping habit is a representation of Ibuki's vulnerability, which in turn leads to Botan allowing her to feel vulnerable safely. A good way to understand this is Gujo asking Ibuki if she liked being at the hot springs with her more than with Botan. This really has nothing to do with drinking, it's entirely Gujo trying to get a feel for how Ibuki feels about her and if she's open to something more, just exactly how special her relationship with Botan even is. This evolves into the idea of Ibuki believing that Botan is someone uniquely special to her; someone who she wants to share her deepest vulnerabilities and secrets to, only her. This is thematically foreshadowed by Yaeka's protectiveness over nail polish, the show is trying to establish that in the romantic language of this narrative, there are certain special things that people can share only with one another, as a representation of the uniqueness of their relationship. This is true even of Gujou's smoking habit, as an earlier ED cinematic revealed that it originated from a previous friendship she had. So, what's the resolution to this love triangle? This is the resolution. Gujou attempted to impose on the boundaries that were set, and Ibuki made it clear that she will not commiserate on her unique relationship with Botan for Gujou's sake. However, she *will* allow Gujou a small entryway into her life through the shared smoke, as a kind of final send-off/"we can still be friends" sort of thing. The fact that this episode is basically the end to this particular conflict is sort of all over its visual language, as well as Gujou saying that there'll be a transfer student soon, which is basically code for "we're moving on to a new character and their effects on the group dynamic". > Because outside of gay girls being gay and drunk at the same time, what else is there to this show? Yuri is an appeal in its own. But, if you're asking what distinguishes it from other GL works, it's a show about people learning to be vulnerable with one another, experiencing rejection and acceptance in equal measure, and coming to new understandings about the boundaries they have set for themselves and others. Alcohol is the boundary setter and the boundary breaker. It's also a show about habits, and how our hobbies and customs can define our relationships with others. Nail polish, music, alcohol, smoking, it's all here.